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More than half of Britons do not agree with the new Labour government, polls showed on Wednesday. A separate poll also found that many more voters expect higher income taxes than before the general election in July.

The proportion of adults in the UK who have a negative opinion of Sir Keir Starmer’s government has risen by around 20 percentage points to 51 percent in a month, according to YouGov, while the proportion of people who approve of it has fallen from 29 percent to 23 percent.

An independent Ipsos poll seen by the Financial Times found that three-quarters of the British public believe Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves will raise their personal taxes, up from just over half in May.

Since her election victory on July 4, the Prime Minister has grappled with unrest following the Southport stabbing, faced accusations of nepotism and paved the way for tax rises this autumn.

Arguing that he had inherited a grim financial legacy from the Conservatives, Starmer blamed the summer’s violent unrest on 14 years of Tories’ “decay” of British society in a speech on Tuesday.

He also warned the public that the situation would “get worse before it gets better” and announced a “painful” budget draft for October 30 – his clearest signal yet for a tax increase.

The YouGov poll follows a survey conducted by think tank More in Common between 24 and 27 August, which found Starmer’s approval ratings had fallen to -16, the lowest the think tank has ever recorded for the Labour leader.

The drop from +6 earlier this month, when Starmer was boosted by his response to the unrest, came after the government faced questions about its appointments management after a party donor and several other Labour-linked figures were given senior civil service positions.

The Ipsos findings suggest a widespread view that the government is planning tax increases, despite Starmer’s assurances this week that “those with the broadest shoulders should bear the greater burden”.

Starmer and Reeves have repeatedly stated that taxes on working people would be kept “as low as possible” and before their election victory in July they vowed not to increase income tax, national insurance contributions or VAT.

But 75 percent of the 1,088 British adults surveyed online by Ipsos between August 23 and 26 said they thought it was “fairly” or “very likely” that they would “personally” pay higher taxes, up from just 56 percent in May.

The proportion of those expecting the Labour Party to increase spending on public services fell slightly from 59 percent to 55 percent.

Labour insiders are reacting defensively to the party’s about-face: before the election it claimed it had “no plans” for unannounced tax increases, and now it is ready to pave the way for new increases in October.

Some say Reeves’ legacy – which she put at a £22 billion deficit in the current financial year – is actually worse than expected.

Others said Labour had little scope to discuss major tax increases before the election as the party had to compete with the Conservatives’ “imaginative” tax and spending plans.

If given the choice, voters would most like to see people earning over £125,000 taxed more heavily. According to Ipsos, tobacco and alcohol duties would be the second most popular taxes, followed by corporation tax.

About 20 percent of voters viewed capital gains tax as fertile ground for increases, the Ipsos poll found, while only 10 percent supported a higher inheritance tax.

Some party officials believe the new Labour government could have better conveyed its message that the Tories are responsible for the dire economic situation if it had commissioned more independent experts to examine the finances of individual departments in Whitehall.

But many voters believe Starmer’s party is trying to overcome the worst economic situation in decades.

Some 65 percent of Ipsos respondents said Britain’s economic problems were worse than the Conservatives admitted when they were in power, and 56 percent said the circumstances Labour inherited were the worst since World War II.